Written questions by Campbell.

When she plans to bring forward any legislative proposals from the first phase of the Pensions Investment Review.

The final report of the Pensions Investment Review, including the policy proposals to be legislated for, will be published in the Spring ahead of the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill.

Whether (a) she and (b) her officials have had discussions with Natwest Bank on fixed rate loans for small and medium-sized businesses taken out in the 2008 period.

The Government regularly engages with a range of stakeholders across the financial services landscape, and it is important that communication can take place in a free and frank way. Officials and Ministers frequently engage with NatWest, as one of the UK's largest banks on a range of topics, including matters relating to SME lending.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 38944, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of people aged over 66 years old working (a) part time and (b) full time who paid income tax in the last financial year.

The information is not available. HMRC does not hold complete information on hours worked in an employment.

Whether her Department holds information on the dates of future meetings of the Global Sovereign Debt roundtable in 2025.

The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) meets at Principals (i.e., Finance Minister or equivalent) level during the IMF-World Bank Spring and Annual meetings, in April and October respectively. Technical and preparatory meetings, including open workshops, take place in the intervening months. As a participant in the GSDR, the UK is invited to all GSDR meetings when they are scheduled, and actively participates in the sessions.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26424 on Cars: Credit, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of consumer credit debt relating to car purchases for the next five years.

The government believes it is vital that consumers have access to a thriving motor finance market to enable them to spread the cost of a vehicle in a way that is manageable and affordable.The government engages with a broad range of stakeholders such as the financial regulators, industry, debt advice charities and consumer groups to monitor trends in consumer debt and understand issues affecting consumers.

What steps she is taking to raise awareness of the Blind Person's Allowance.

Blind Person's Allowance is an extra amount of tax-free allowance that can be added to an individual’s Personal Allowance, for those who are blind or severely sight impaired. Blind Person's Allowance is £3,070 for the tax year 2024-25. If the recipient does not pay tax or have enough taxable income to use their full BPA, the remainder of the allowance can be transferred to a spouse or civil partner.HMRC promotes the availability of Blind Person's Allowance through supporting and funding key charities, such as the Royal National Institute of Blind People, through dedicated communications partners and the 2024-27 HMRC Voluntary and Community Sector Grant Funding Programme. This ensures communications are accurate and reach the greatest number of eligible customers.Information on how to claim Blind Person's Allowance is available on the GOV.UK website and it can be claimed by telephone to HMRC. Blind Person’s Allowance is also signposted on the application form for registering any sight impairments with Local Authorities.HMRC follows comprehensive government accessibility standards. These include guidance on writing and producing braille developed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People and the Sensory Trust as well as making social media accessible.HMRC’s ongoing support for Blind Person's Allowance campaigns seeks to raise awareness of the eligibility criteria for the allowance, encourage take-up and educate customers on how to claim.

When the Financial Conduct Authority will publish revised guidance on politically exposed persons under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

The Government has been working closely with the FCA to follow up on the findings of its review into the treatment of Politically Exposed Persons by financial institutions, and to ensure firms improve their practices where necessary. The FCA expects that the revised guidance will be published and brought into effect in the first half of 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of tax reliefs provided to charities who work in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, but are physically based in Northern Ireland and constituted in the Irish Republic.

The UK tax regime for charities is among the most generous in the world with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024. In March 2023, the UK Government announced that from April 2024 charitable tax reliefs would be restricted to UK-based charities. This means that, to be eligible for UK charity reliefs, a charity must fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, or the Court of Session in Scotland. This can be achieved through registration with one of the UK charity Commissions or HMRC. Such a charity can continue to support charitable causes in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30044 on Individual Savings Accounts: Children, if she will change the rules on eligibility for ISAs to permit grandparents to take out ISAs for grandchildren with the consent of parents or guardians.

To ensure that the ISA regime remains simple and sustainable, placing a restriction on who can open and manage a Junior Individual Savings Account (JISA) prevents more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error and ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild. While parents or legal guardians must open a JISA on behalf of their children, grandparents can then add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year. As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps the JISA policy under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider fiscal and economic position.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changing cash ISA's to UK-based stocks and shares ISA's on the economy.

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) incentivise greater saving and investment by helping people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience. The Government recognises the important role that cash savings play in helping households build a financial buffer for a rainy day. The Government wants to see more consumers participate in capital markets and benefit from the long-term financial security and returns that investing can provide. The Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy call for evidence, which closed on 12 December, identified that increasing retail participation in capital markets could support long-term sustainable growth within the sector and the wider economy. The Government is considering the feedback provided. The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.

If she will review eligibility rules to allow grandparents to take out share based ISAs for grandchildren.

To ensure that the Junior Individual Savings Accounts (JISA) regime remains simple and sustainable, HMRC specify who can open and manage an account to prevent more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error. It also ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild but can add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year. The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2024 to Question 18292 on Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands, what estimate she has made of additional tax revenue raised by freezing the (a) standard and (b) higher rate income tax thresholds (i) for each financial year and (ii) in total to 2029-30.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) routinely publish this information in their Economic and Fiscal Outlooks (EFO). The table below is extracted from the OBR’s most recent EFO, from October 2024 (Table 3.9, available here: https://obr.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlooks/). This shows the per annum reduction in government borrowing arising from the freeze in both the Personal Allowance and the Higher Rate Threshold up to 2027-28. From 2023-24 to 2029-30, these measures raise a total of £207.9bn. £ billion Forecast 2023-242024-252025-262026-272027-282028-292029-30PA and HRT freezes-13.2-23.3-27.6-31.8-36.0-37.5-38.6 The current Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds. As a result, they will rise with inflation from April 2028, meaning working people will keep more of their earnings.

With reference to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 5762 on World Economy, what recent discussions she has had with international partners on strengthening the international debt architecture.

The Government is committed to tackling unsustainable debt and the Chancellor has called for international partners to work together on this, including through enhancing debt transparency and promoting adoption of Climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDCs). HM Treasury continues to engage regularly with international partners, including the IMF, World Bank, borrower countries, other official creditors, private sector, and civil society organisations, on strengthening the international debt architecture. These discussions take place through various international fora, including the G7, G20, Paris Club and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.

If she will make an assessment of trends in the level of consumer credit debt relating to car purchases in the last five years.

The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor personal finances and debt levels. According to the FCA, 2 million cars were bought on finance in the 12 months to October 2024, with a total of £38.7 billion being borrowed. HMT does not hold data for the last 5 years.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 23717 on Income Tax: Tax Allowances, if she will make an estimate of the number of full time employees not paying income tax due to their salary being below £13,000 in April 2028.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 January 2025 to Question 23717.

If she will have discussions with the credit union movement on expanding their role in offering financial services to individuals.

The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing products and affordable credit. It continues to engage regularly with this sector to understand the current barriers they face and consider further opportunities for growth. The Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector in her Mansion House speech on 14 November. This included publishing a call for evidence on the potential to reform common bonds for credit unions in Great Britain, asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to produce a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025, and welcoming the establishment of an industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Business Council. Responsibility for credit unions in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Treasury officials engage with their counterparts in the Department for the Economy.

Whether she has plans for a comprehensive financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets in the UK.

On 21 November 2024, the Government confirmed that it will proceed with creating a new financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets. This regime will be in line with the proposals published by HM Treasury in October 2023.

What estimate she has made of how many full time employees will not be paying income tax when the freeze on personal tax thresholds ends in April 2028.

At the National Minimum Wage rates effective from April 2025 and working 35 hours per week a full-time employee over 21 would earn £22,222.22 –which is above the Personal Allowance of £12,570. Therefore, when the freeze on personal tax thresholds ends in April 2028 a full-time employee earning at least the minimum wage would have pay more than the personal allowance and thus would be expected to pay Income Tax. This government is committed to keeping taxes as low as possible for working people while ensuring fiscal responsibility, which is why it will not extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds, allowing them to rise with inflation the following year.

If she will have discussions with financial institutions to establish which additional banks will participate in the roll out of banking hubs.

Banking hubs are a voluntary service developed by the financial services sector in the context of legislation to protect access to cash under the Financial Services Act 2023. Their rollout is overseen by Cash Access UK, a not-for-profit company set up and funded by industry for the purpose of delivering shared access to cash solutions. Membership of Cash Access UK and involvement in banking hubs is voluntary, and it is possible for banks and building societies in scope of the FCA’s access to cash regime to choose to meet their cash access obligations through other methods, for example their branch network. However, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. Over 175 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

What recent estimate she has made of the change in GDP per capita by 2030.

GDP per capita is projected by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to grow by an annual average of 1.1% over this parliament. The government, as set out in the Plan for Change, is committed to kickstarting economic growth. This will fund our public services, lead to more people in good jobs, higher living standards and productivity growth in every part of the United Kingdom. As set out at the Autumn Budget 2024, through the seven pillars of the growth mission, the Government is restoring stability, increasing investment, and reforming the economy. Growth can only be achieved in partnership with business, so we will develop and deliver these policies together.